The journey of an obese mom as she prepare for and grows healthier after bariatric surgery. Includes struggles with insurance coverage and hospital charges, diet history, and preparing to totally change her relationship with food.

About Me

Friday, March 23, 2012

Bariatric Betty - 5 weeks out, new totals, new job!

So today is day 36, and tomorrow I get to start trying transitional foods. That means very small amounts of super-toasted bread products (the crunchier, the better) and things like a bite or two of iceberg lettuce. Woo-hoo! Chewing continues to become more and more important as I eat more things that won't just slide out the tiny opening in my stomach. I've had several reminders to CHEW MORE like two unchewed lentils stuck together blocking that opening and causing pain and vomitting. Once it was a shredded piece of cheese. The new crunchier foods increase that risk if I don't chew well. I continue to feel uneasy about eating in front of others outside my immediate family because of this, but I'll keep working through it. My best friend was sweet enough to not only give me the entire menu for her wedding reception, but to tell me the restaurant that's catering it, so I can try things ahead of time if I want. I'll still need to eat protein I pack, but I could at least taste some palak paneer!

So lots of good news this week. As of today, I actually weigh the weight on my driver's license! That is very exciting, and again makes me wonder why they don't actually have us stand on a scale (without our seeing the weight) that would automatically enter the weight in the computer at the DMV (and not put it on the driver's license for the world to see). After all, if I had disappeared a year ago, they would have been looking for someone that weighed 52 pounds less than I did - how would that have helped them find me? I have actually imagined that heaven forbid I had been murdered and they found my body, them saying "Nope, this can't be that girl, she's much more obese." HELLO - how many of the people getting license give their correct weight? I'm guessing even those who have never been obese fudge a little.

Yup, 52 pounds! My BMI has gone from 42.1 down to 33.9. I'm losing 1 to 2 pounds a week, which is right on target for now. It will slow further as I have less to lose. I'm very excited about achieving my next goal - no longer being obese. When my BMI gets to 29.9, I will be overweight, but not obese. Celebrating being overweight sounds oxymoronic, but when you started out being Morbidly Obese, it's a real milestone.

So yesterday I brought a pizza party to my son's classroom to celebrate his birthday. I suggested that instead of cupcakes or cookies, because I figure by giving them a lunch of cheese pizza, grapes, and water they were probably eating the same number of calories they would normally get at lunch, but it felt like a huge treat. The kids had a blast - and funny enough I didn't have the slightest craving for the pizza. I didn't even want to lick my fingers as I plated all 24 servings. I used to love pizza.

So after lunch I stopped by to chat with the principal and let her know that I will be all healed up and off restrictions after our spring break, so if she needed anyone to sub as a monitor (watching the kids for lunch and recess) I would be available. She had offered to hire me fulltime (2.5 hours a day M-F) last fall after I had applied as a sub, but I had told her that with the planned surgery I would be out a couple months in the winter/ spring, and didn't think it would be fair to them. Her response was "How did you know? Did you know? That I just got two resignations this morning? They're on my desk right now!" So, I'm hired "fulltime" as of 4/16! The pay isn't great, but I will only be working when my kids are in school, I'll have a really good idea of what's really going on in the elementary school, and hopefully I can help keep the peace. Given my strong sense of fairness and sense that school should be a safe place for children, I hope neither the principal nor I regret this!

The interesting thing is I realize now that I probably couldn't have done this last fall when I applied. You see, you constantly stand and walk for 2 1/2 hours. While I was walking 2 miles a day, doing the elliptical for 1/2 hour (5 miles) and other active things, just standing for an hour used to make me sweat. I remember volunteering at the bookfair and walking around a small room helping kids for 1 1/2 hours and being sweaty and exhausted. Because when you are morbidly obese, your body works really hard just STANDING for a long period. It was easier to do 5 miles on the elliptical than stand/ walk a little for 1 1/2 hours.

So I'm going to start increasing the lengths or my walk with my dog now to make sure I build up my endurance a bit more before starting my job in April. I know my body is totally different now, and I'm not as limited as I was, but I'm still obese and at my current approx. 600 calories a day, my energy level isn't sky high by any means. At least I know I will be guaranteed a lot of walking (in addition to walking my dog) for the rest of the school year. Once summer starts, I'm looking at starting Couch To 5k training with the whole family. Now that will be interesting.

3 comments:

I always love reading your blog. Keep up the good work. I know what you mean about the drivers license. Mine weight is now way under but to change it costs for the new license, if they did the weight like you suggested you could go in and get reweighed and update the record without extra cost.